There was a lot of rowing activity for New Zealand today, quite apart from the excitement of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray’s memorable gold medal in the pairs.
The New Zealand lightweight four of James Lassche, Peter Taylor, Alistair Bond and James Hunter finished fifth in their final. The New Zealanders recorded 6min 28.14s in a race won by the Swiss crew in 6min 20.51s.
Both New Zealand eights crews booked berths in the final with good repechage performances in races where the first three qualified.
The men were third in 5min 56.94s, well behind the United States and Netherlands teams, but comfortably clear of the fourth-placed Poland combination.
And the women were also third, behind Canada and Romania, so confirmed their position in the final. They were timed at 6min 34.90s, one second clear of the fourth-placed crew from the Netherlands.
The women’s pair of Genevieve Behrent and Rebecca Scown again did double duty, both also racing in the eight. In their pair semi-final they were second behind Demark and were timed at 7min 29.67s. Denmark won the race in 7min 27.56s. The times in the other semi-final were much faster, but with the variable winds on the course today it was difficult to get a gauge as to the strength of various crews.
In the lightweight women’s double sculls semi-finals, Sophie MacKenzie and Julia Edward progressed comfortably in the final, finishing second to South Africa.
New Zealand were in three B finals today. The New Zealand men’s squad scullers were fourth, Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane in the women’s double sculls were sixth and Robbie Manson and Chris Harris in the men’s double sculls were fifth.